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HOLLINGER 
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ADDRESS 

OP 

JOHN A. McCLERNAND, OF ILLINOIS, 

TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 



To the Voters of the Second Congressional District of Illinois : 

Fellow-citizens : The certainty, now ascertained, that Congress will not 
adjourn in time to allow me to canvass my district in person before the election, 
has induced me to address you a circular, upon the subject of our official rela- 
tions. This mode of communication, although not so agreeable to me, nor so 
favorable to the object I have in view, as that which would be afforded by free 
and familiar personal intercourse, will, nevertheless, I trust, prove satisfactory. 

Of my early life, fellow-citizens, I scarcely need speak: it is well known to 
you — it was spent in your midst. An orphan in youth, I have had to encounter 
and overcome the wants and obstacles of orphanage. As a member of an infant 
community, like yourselves, I have had to endure the hardships and brave the 
dangers incident to the settlement of a new country; and with you I may claim 
to have contributed something towards the advancement of our beloved State 
to her present elevated and commanding position. We should all be proud, 
and grateful to the Almighty, that our lives and our locality are identified 
with the destinies of one of the most favored and promising States known to the 
world. 

Of my public course upon the theatre of my State, it will be enough to say, 
that in view of its good and its bad parts, you pronounced upon the whole 
a judgment of approval, or at least of indulgence, by electing me to repre- 
sent you in the Congress of the United States. My first election to Congress 
occurred in 1843, since which time 3 7 ou have twice reelected me to the same 
trust without opposition, thus affording me a grateful testimonial of your con- 
tinued confidence and approbation — a testimonial which I shall ever cherish 
among the most sacred treasures of my heart. Lately, you have again renomi- 
nated me for reelection for the fourth time ; and this last nomination, if at all 
distinguishable from those which preceded it, should be regarded, perhaps, as the 
greatest compliment of all. It was made by the Democrats of my district, 
when I was a thousand miles distant; it was made, unsolicited by me, and, as 
I am informed, with entire unanimity. I doubt not that it will command the 
undivided support of the lion-hearted Democracy of my district, if not from 
considerations personal to myself, at all events from public and patriotic con- 
siderations, affecting the organization, the efficiency, and the success of the 
Democratic party. 

Primed at the Congressional Globe Office. 



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I have now, fellow-citizens, as I am informed, opposition to my reelection ; 
opposition, as I may suppose, not with the expectation of success, or with any 
hope of defeating me; but opposition, probably, for the purpose of rallying the 
Whig party, with a view to contest the Presidential election in November. 
Colonel Marshall is my opponent — a gentleman of talents and respectability — 
a Whig now, and always a Whig. He was a Whig candidate for elector, 
pledged to support Harrison and Tyler for President and Vice President of the 
United States, in 1810, when I was an opposing Democratic candidate for 
elector. He is now the Whig candidate for Congress, in opposition to myself 
as the Democratic candidate in the same district. It is for you, in view of all 
that should influence enlightened and patriotic men, to choose between us, or to 
choose whomsoever you may please. 

When, in 1843, I took my seat in the twenty-eighth Congress, I found the 
Government and the country still struggling under the mal-adminisiration of the 
party admitted to power by the election in 1840. The public debt and the 
public expenditures had been largely increased, in time of profound peace, and 
the credit of the Government was sunk to the lowest ebb. The work of 
proscription had been carried on from the advent of the Whig administration, 
and, for some time, one hundred and thirty Democrats per week were removed 
from office; and at the end of six months, three thousand Democrats had been 
removed, to make room for as many Whigs. Even while General Harrison 
was lying on his bier a corpse, the slaughter was continued, and James N. 
Barker, a Democrat, was removed from the office of Comptroller ! 

Other evils, of disastrous character, were inflicted upon the country by the 
same rulers. In the madness of ill-gotten and temporary power, the constitu- 
tional treasury was repealed, and the public treasure dispersed among banks 
and other irresponsible agents, for custody. An agrarian distribution of the 
proceeds of the public lands was enacted; an oppressive, unequal, and unjust 
tariff" was established ; an odious bankrupt law forced upon the country; and, 
to crown the whole scheme of abominations, one or more propositions for the 
establishment of a mammoth national bank were made, which were only 
defeated by the veto of the man who had been elected Vice President mainly 
by Whig votes. 

Finding this to be the condition of public affairs in 1843, 1 applied myself, in 
connection with my Democratic associates, (humbly, to be sure, but zealously,) 
for the purpose of relieving the country from its embarrassments and afflictions : 
with what success, the records of Congress and the unexampled prosperity of the 
country will attest. Since 1843, by the persevering efforts of Democrats in 
Congress, and a Democratic administration, the Whig policy, to the extent it 
had obtained, has been overthrown, and the Democratic policy, now in happy 
and triumphant operation, has taken its place. 

The Constitutional Treasury has been restored, whereby the public moneys 
are brought under the safe and responsible control of law. Under the operation 
of this simple and Republican system, ten times as much specie has been paid 
out of the Treasury among the people within seventeen months, as had been 
paid out from the Treasury before for fifty-seven years, since the organization of 
the Government ; and a larger amount of gold and silver has been coined at the 
Mint, within three years, than was coined for thirty-seven years prior to 1830. 
Under the favorable and successful operation of this system, the Government 
has been enabled to negotiate large loans to meet the exigencies of war — always 
receiving a premium for its stocks ; whereas, during the last war with Great 



3 

Britain, when tlie Government was connected with banks, its stocks were depre- 
ciated twenty-five per cent., payable in bank paper twenty per cent, below par. 
And even as late as 1841, in time of profound peace, when the extravagance 
of Whig rulers forced them to borrow money to meet their current expenses, the 
stocks of the Government were hawked about for purchasers, and could only be 
sold at a discount. 

The Distribution Act has been repealed, whereby the land revenue has been 
reclaimed from the office of subsidizing the States, for the use of the Government. 
By the repeal of this measure, a prominent argument in favor of an unequal and 
restrictive tariff has been foiled, and the people of the new States have been 
relieved from the injustice and oppression of being taxed to buy more and more 
lands, to be sold chiefly to themselves at an advanced price, in order that the 
proceeds of such sales may be distributed, in the largest proportions, among the 
older and more populous States. 

Of the Bankrupt Law, I need only say that it met a dishonored death by the 
hands of its authors. Forced into existence, in defiance of public opinion, it was 
swept out of existence by the breath of public indignation. 

The odious ami unjust Tariff enacted by the Whigs in 1842, has been 
replaced by the Revenue Tariff' of 1846. The Whig tariff of 1842 was a 
subtilely-devised scheme, having the effect to tax one portion of the community 
for the benefit of another — to tax labor for the benefit of capital — to impoverish 
the many who till the soil, for the benefit of the favored few who are engaged 
in manufacturing. Under its operation, the necessaries of life, such as are used 
by the poor, were taxed doubly and trebly as much as many luxuries, used only 
by the rich : as, for example, domestic calicoes were taxed 160 per cent., while 
costly silks were only taxed 42 per cent. The Democratic tariff of 1846 has reme- 
died this injustice ; it has adjusted the scale of duties on imports upon just and 
legitimate principles — limiting indirect taxation to the economical wants of the 
Government, and affording just and reasonable protection to domestic manufac- 
tures. Under its wholesome operation, the revenues of the Government have 
been largely increased, contrary to the predictions of its opponents; the bread- 
stuffs of the Mississippi valley have found a ready market in England ; and the 
commerce of the country, notwithstanding the existence of a foreign war, was 
never more flourishing. Our example and our lead in the great cause of 
free trade have challenged the admiration and imitation of the civilized 
world. 

Such, fellow-citizens, was the condition of the country in 1843, and such the 
contrast in 1848. If you wish to go back to the Whig policy of 1843 ; if you 
wish to revive political proscription — distribution — a restrictive tariff — a national 
bank, — your wish may be best promoted by the election of a Whig; if, on the 
contrary, you wish to preserve the policy now in triumphant operation, your 
wish may be best promoted by the election of a Democrat. Of your choice in 
the premises 1 cannot doubt: your past history for political consistency and 
fidelity assures me that you would be as averse to the restoration of Whig 
ascendency as you are desirous to perpetuate the successes of the Democratic 
policy. 

Upon the great questions affecting our foreign relations which have arisen 
within a few years past, I trust my course has been such as to command your 
approbation, and to comport with the honor and interests of the country. Be- 
lieving our title to the whole of Oregon to be good, I insisted upon its mainte- 
nance : I so voted and so spoke. Oregon, as a portion of the North American 



4 

merit — fronting on the Pacific for seven hundred miles — watered by the 
Columbia — affording an overland communication within our borders between the 
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and combining the elements of a powerful com- 
mercial marine within its northern half — was of infinite value to us; and it was 
with the deepest regret that I saw the treaty consummated, in consequence of 
the faltering of the Senate, which lost to us a large and valuable portion of the 
country. 

In regard to Texas, my course was equally decided and explicit. I voted 
for and advocated the annexation of Texas, not only because I believed it to 
be your wish that I should do so, but also because high considerations of public 
faith and public policy demanded it. Texas had been ceded by us to Spain in 
1819, contrary to the terms of the treaty of 1803, by which we acquired it as 
a part of the Louisiana territory. Good faith, therefore, required that we should 
reclaim it as soon as we could do so justly. Texas, too, brought under the 
jurisdiction of the United States an extensive and fertile country, inhabited 
by our brethren, adapted to the production of cotton and sugar, and giving 
us control of the Gulf of Mexico, from the Rio Grande to the peninsula of 
Florida. In offering to us her sovereignty, Texas brought to the Union a price- 
less jewel. 

My course upon the war 1 presume is not altogether unfamiliar to you. 
After the Republic of Mexico had commenced the war, by sending a hos- 
tile army across the Rio Grande, which attacked and slaughtered American 
citizens on American soil, I voted to recognize the existence of the war, and to 
grant all the supplies which were required by the proper authorities to carry it 
on vigorously and successfully. During the continuance of the war, thus begun, 
a o-reat and important epoch has been marked in the history of the world. It 
has been proved that the safest and surest reliance of a free people is not upon 
a standing army, but upon their own intelligence, virtue, and patriotism. It 
was predicted by the enemies of republicanism, when the war broke out, that 
we would prove ourselves unable to conduct a foreign war. But what has 
been the result? At the call of the Government, more than four hundred 
thousand men leaped from the bosom of society and offered to bear arms in the 
cause of their country in the distant field of danger and combat. In an almost 
incredibly short time our armies, composed mostly of volunteers from the 
peaceful walks of life, overran an empire estimated to contain two millions five 
hundred thousand square miles, inhabited by seven or eight millions of peopte, 
supposed by many to be impregnable from the number and strength of its 
natural defences. And, in the mean time, while our armies were employed, 
against great odds of numbers, to conquer an obstinate and willful foe, our 
charities were also employed to conquer the prejudices and win the affections 
and gratitude of the famishing masses of monarchical Europe. So grand and 
sublime a spectacle has never before been exhibited in the experience of the 
world. It will ever be my pride, as an Illinoian, that IHinoians bore an hon- 
orable and conspicuous part in these transactions. At Buena Vista, at Cerro 
Gordo, at Molino del Rey, at Chapultepec, and at the gates of the Mexican 
capital, IHinoians fought and triumphed, and by their deeds of daring and 
patriotism, have won for our young and noble State an imperishable renown. 
It is to be hoped that the war, which has contributed so much to elevate and 
emblazon the American name, will contribute also, in an equal degree, to regen- 
erate the spirit and the character of lethargic Mexico. 

The war with Mexico has been recently terminated by a treaty of peace, 



which concedes to the United States New Mexico and California. The Pres- 
ident, in his message of the 6th instant, thus describes these acquisitions : 

" Embracing nearly ten degrees of latitude, lying adjacent to the Oregon Territory, and 
extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Rio Grande, a mean distance of nearly a thousand 
miles, it would be difficult to estimate the value of these possessions to the United States. They 
constitute of themselves a country large enough for a great empire, and their acquisition is 
second only in importance to that of Louisiana in 1803. Rich in mineral and agricultural 
resources, with a climate of great salubrity, they embrace the most important ports on the whole 
Pacific coast of the continent of North America. The possession of the ports of San Diego, 
Monterey, and the bay of San Francisco, will enable the United States to command the already 
valuable and rapidly-increasing commerce of the Pacific. The number of our whale ships 
alone, now employed in that sea, exceeds seven hundred, requiring more than twenty thousand 
seamen to navigate them; while the capital invested in this particular branch of commerce is 
estimated at not less than forty millions of dollars. The excellent harWs of Upper California 
will, under our flag, afford security and repose to our commercial marine; and American 
mechanics will soon furnish ready means of ship-building and repair, which are now so much 
wanted in that distant sea." 

Besides the humble part I have borne in these great measures of national 
concern, I have also endeavored, and, I trust, with some success, to secure for 
my State and my district the benefits of such local legislation as their condition 
called for, and as it was proper for Congress to grant. The following routes 
in my district have been authorized by law since I first took my seat in Con- 
gress, viz : 

A route from Equality, via Elizabcthtown, to Salem, in Kentucky. 

From Golconda to Metropolis City. 

From Shawneetown, via Cypressville, Equality, Benton, and NashvilLe, to 
Belleville and St. Louis, in Missouri. 

From Benton to Mount Vernon, via Baines's Mills, to Compton's Post Office 
and Spring Garden. 

From Mount Vernon, via Frankfort, Marion, Vienna, and Metropolis City, 
to Paducah, in Kentucky. 

From Equality, via Sarahsville, to Marion. 

From St. Louis, in Missouri, via Belleville, Sparta, Murphysborough, Sara- 
toga, and Vienna, to Metropolis City. 

From Evansville, in Indiana, via Albion and Fairfield, to Salem. 

From Paducah, in Kentucky, via Metropolis, and from Friendsville, to 
Albany. 

All of these routes were required to be put into operation as soon as the funds 
of the Post Office Department would justify it ; and all, or the most of them, 
no doubt, are now in operation. I may add, that the post offices in my district 
have been proportionably increased. 

When I took my seat in Congress, a large quantity of mineral lands in Illinois 
had been reserved from sale, from a very early date, by the Government. These 
lands were situated, in part, in the counties of Gallatin. Hardin, and Pope, in 
my own district, and the remainder in and adjacent to the county of Jo 
Daviess, in the northern part of the State. The long-continued reservation of 
these lands from market, and, consequently, in a great degree, from settlement 
and cultivation, had proved highly detrimental to the interests of the State, and, 
in fact, had become a grievance, of which the State had in vain, for a long time, 
justly complained. In 1846, as chairman of the Committee on Public Lands 



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of the House, I reported a bill for the sale of these lands, which became a law, 
under which all of these lands have been proclaimed for sale, and a large 
portion of them sold to honest and meritorious tillers of the soil. I have also 
contributed to the passage of laws for the release to the State of the " Saline 
reservations" within its limits, for the survey of the unsurveyed lands in Illinois, 
for the adjustment of suspended preemption claims to public lands, for the 
removal of the legal restriction which prohibited settlers upon the public lands 
from entering more than two forty-acre tracts of land, and other measures of like 
character, upon which it would be out of place for me to dwell here. 

It has been the lot of public men, in all ages and countries, to be abused by 
their political opponents; and such, in a large degree, has been my lot. Indi- 
viduals of the Whig party have brought charges against me, for the purpose of 
injuring me in the public estimation, having no foundation in truth. I have been 
accused of disregarding the interests of my Stale in not voting for the wasteful 
and extravagant schemes of internal improvements which have been from time 
to time urged upon Congress during my term of service, and which have been 
as often vetoed by a Democratic President. I voted against these schemes, 
because they were ill-judged and ill-advised; because the experience of my own 
State warned me against their evil consequences ; because they would have 
contributed to plunge the country into an enormous public debt, and to burden 
the people with taxes ; because they would have lessened our pecuniary ability 
to carry on the war with Mexico ; and because, too, they would have opened 
the way for the establishment of a national bank, a high restrictive tariiF, and 
the other enormities of the Federal creed. 

But while thus opposed to wild and visionary schemes of internal improve- 
ment, I have, nevertheless, been the advocate of such just and practicable 
improvements as I thought were called for by the condition and interests of the 
country. 1 have advocated the establishment of a national armory in the 
Mississippi valley, and obtained an appropriation, by the House, for the object, 
which, unfortunately, failed in the Senate. I shall continue to advocate this 
measure, and still hope to succeed with it. I have advocated the policy of 
granting public lands to the States in which they lie, for the purpose of making 
useful public improvements and accelerating the sale and settlement of the 
public lands; and a bill is now pending in the House granting to the State of 
Illinois a quantity of land for that purpose. Should the bill as proposed to 
be amended become a law, provision will be made for the completion of the 
Central railroad, with a branch to Mount Carmel and the northern cross-road, 
with a branch to Alton-Works, upon which the State has already expended a 
large amount of money. 

In regard to our great western rivers, I may appeal to the Journals of Congress 
to prove that I am a better friend to the object of their improvement than they 
who claim to be the peculiar champions of this policy. 1 have endeavored to 
keep them separated from the host of spurious adjuncts which, from time to 
time, have been heaped upon them, and to obtain for their improvement suitable 
appropriations ; while it has been the uniform practice of the particular advo- 
cates of this policy to overload them with such adjuncts, whereby the whole 
have failed. An instance of this general fact occurred during the last session 
of Congress. After it had become apparent that the general bill providing for 
their improvement would fail in consequence of its extravagant and heterogeneous 
character, the Senate passed a bill providing for the improvement of the Ohio, 
Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas rivers alone, thus pe*» rating them from all 

1S* Y . ° F C °NGRESS 

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unimportant objects. This bill was rejected in the House — sixty-eight Whio-s 
voting: fifty-six for the rejection, and only twelve against it. I voted for the 
bill. (See House Journal, 1845-46, page 1096.) 

I have also been accused of voting against the increase of the pay of the 
soldiers of the Mexican war. This charge is untrue in all its parts; it is 
without the slightest foundation or semblance of reality. On the contrary, I 
may justly claim to share the authorship of the measure, for it was upon my 
suggestion that Governor Chapman, of Alabama, first and originally moved it, 
as an amendment to the war bill, in Committee of the Whole on the state of 
the Union. Upon reporting the bill to the House, the amendment, striking 
out eight and inserting ten dollars for the monthly pay of the soldiers, was 
adopted, yeas 104, nays 82. I voted in the affirmative. (See House Journal, 
1845-46, page 703.) The bill, thus amended, passed the House. The 
Senate afterwards struck out the ten dollars, and upon the return of the bill to 
the House, the vote on agreeing to the amendment of the Senate was: yeas 
117, nays 50; I voting to disagree, and to retain the ten dollars. (Idem, 
page 805.) This was the only bill upon which any direct action was taken by 
Congress, on the subject of the increase of the pay of the soldiers, during that 
session. Subsequently, various resolutions, of mere inquiry or instruction to the 
Military Committee, were moved on the subject, on one of which it appears my 
vote is not recorded at all. On all the others I voted consistently with my 
previous committal. 

At the next session of Congress, I brought forward a bill to increase the pay 
of the soldiers, and to grant to them bounties of land. Mr. Rathbun, of New 
York, said that — 

" He was unfortunate enough not to agree with gentlemen who were so forward in making 
these donations to our volunteers and this increase of pay." 

"Mr. McClernand admitted that our volunteers were actuated by far higher and nobler 
motives than a bare regard to gain. They were impelled by a noble sense of patriotism, by a 
zeal to redress their country's wrongs, and in part, too, by that spirit of adventure which so 
strongly marked the character of our countrymen. But would the gentleman [Mr. Rathbun] 
on that account do them injustice ? Would he refuse them adequate pay ? Would he say that 
ten dollars a month was too much ?" 

"As to the public lands, no better disposition could possibly be made of them than to grant 
them, in suitable quantities, to our soldiers. Men who had risked their lives for the common 
defence, who had won vast territories by their valor, were entitled to have just remuneration." 
—See Congressional Globe, 1846- '47, pp. 202-3. 

At the same session of Congress, the law was passed granting bounties of land 
to the soldiers, and I have only to regret that their monthly pay was not increased, 
for which, as I have now shown, I uniformly voted. It affords me, however, 
much satisfaction to be able to assure those brave and patriotic men that it is 
now rendered almost absolutely certain that Congress will, at the present 
session, allow them three months' extra pay. 

Another story sedulously circulated to injure me, as I understand, is, that 
I have removed from and am not a resident of my district. This story is also 
untrue, and should be known to be untrue by its authors. My residence and my 
home are now where they have been from my infancy — in my district and in your 
midst, where they will probably continue to be longer than may be agreeable to 
my slanderers and persecutors. No ; my transgression is not that I have removed 
from the district, but in fact that I have not removed from it — that I am still in 



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the way of prurient aspirations for Congressional honors — that I am still honored 
by the people. That my opponents should have resorted to such unworthy 
arts, is a greater reproach to them than it can possibly be injury to me, in the 
minds of an enlightened and virtuous people. 

Fellow-citizens, it may be expected of me to say something respecting the 
approaching election for President and Vice President of the United States. 
I have do hesitation to do so, and will therefore freely and frankly declare my 
sentiments and views upon the subject. The two great parties that have existed 
from an early period of the Government are again arrayed against each other 
in the field of political, but peaceful contest. The Whig party have nominated 
General Taylor and Millard Fillmore, as their candidates for President and 
Vice President ; but the Convention that so nominated them suppressed any 
declaration of political, principles, as was done in the nomination of General 
Harrison and John Tyler for the same offices. Now, as in 1840, it is the 
policy of the Whig party to appeal to the "generous confidence of the people," 
rather than to come forward in a frank and manly avowal of their prin- 
ciples. Now, as in 1840, the cry of "No party" will assail our ears wherever 
the Democracy are in the majority, and of "JSo quarter ?1 wherever the Whigs 
are in the majority. The cry of "No party" is a contradiction of all political 
experience. There never was a Government, unless it was an absolute one, 
not tolerating freedom of opinion and discussion, but in which parties existed; 
and there never will be a free Government but in which they will exist, until 
the ambitious and avaricious few shall cease to strive to tyrannize over and 
plunder the honest and toiling masses — an Utopia never to be realized. 
General Taylor is a brave, a patriotic, and a distinguished man ; but I am 
opposed to his election, for the same reasons I was opposed to the election of 
General Harrison in 1840, and of Mr. Clay in 1844. 

The Democratic party have nominated General Cass and General Butler for 
President and Vice President, and have openly and manfully announced the 
principles upon which they nominated them. I am in favor of the election of 
General Cass and General Butler, because they are men of approved patriotism 
and statesmanship, as well as valor upon the battle-field ; because they are Demo- 
crats, and will administer the Government upon Democratic principles — the same 
principles so gloriously illustrated by the administrations of Jefferson and Jack- 
son — upon which our Government is founded — which have conducted it from 
the condition of infancy to the giant stature and strength of young and vigorous 
manhood — rwhich have blessed our people with liberty, happiness, and pros- 
perity, and have rendered us the wonder and admiration of the world. For 
these reasons, very generally and briefly stated, I am in favor of the election 
of Cass and Butler. 

In conclusion, fellow-citizens, allow me to add, that whether in public or 
private life, I will ever ardently cherish and support the great political truths 
and doctrines for the advancement of which I have hitherto labored, and for the 
undeviating and unfaltering support of which my district and my State are so 
honorably distinguished. I submit my case to you, fellow-citizens, for your 
judgment and decision, believing that whatever that judgment and decision may 
be, it will be just and generous. 

JOHN A. McCLERNAND. 

Washington, July 11, 1848. 



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HOLLINGER 

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